Mysterious Boy
by Kiva Taliana
Summary: Merlin drags the dragon in for a conversation, so he can learn about his father, Balinor.   NB Chapter 2 now corrected since reviews pointed out that Balinor cannot be a Dragonlord if his father is alive, I've changed the emphasis
1. Prologue

**The story is set after the series 3 episode Gwaine, after Gwaine and Merlin discuss their fathers. The though then occured to me that there was a lot more between Balinor and the dragon than we can think about. So the story leads on from this prologue to the times they continued to meet. **

Merlin didn't go to the clearing in the woods. That was too near. For what he wanted it was too near. He had time to spare and time that he wanted to use, so he climbed up the hill and moved his way around to the far side, where the cave was. Then he sat and gasped for breath, drank the water he had brought and ate the food.

Then he called. Just one word. And he called.

The sun was igniting the horizon as the dragon flew to him, unable to fight the call and heading steadily towards him, the urgency of the call pulling him harder. He didn't even circle. Kilgharrah dropped his back feet, wings moving frantically and stirring the air around Merlin, while Merlin sat where he was, on a rock, just tired and waiting.

The dragon settled and looked at Merlin, his head tilting one way and then another.

"You called young Warlock, but I feel nothing stirring in the scheme of things."

"No."

"You have no command?" the dragon asked.

"Talk to me," Merlin said.

"About what? What do you wish to discuss, child?"

"My father. Did you know him?"

"Ah, Balinor."

"You knew him?"

"He called me to Uther. Your father was responsible for my imprisonment."

"He was betrayed, he said so."

"He was naïve, and unrealistic. It didn't take long for him to learn to the contrary."

"Did you know him? Before then, before he called you to Camelot?"

The dragon paused and looked at Merlin. There was no command, it was not making him answer.

"You could force me to tell you."

"I know. I know I can. I know that!" Merlin snapped. "But you will only tell me the answers to the questions that I ask, that I could demand of you. I just want to know, did you know my father?"

"Yes, young warlock, I did."

"Before he called you to Camelot?" Merlin asked.

"Yes of course, there are links that occur between dragons and the lords that can command them. At their height the Dragon Lords were revered, but they were never ones who abused their power. What they felt was so deep, none of them ever turned and abused their gift. Only Balinor can be accused of that."

"Why?"

"Because he betrayed me, and left me to Camelot. But that was always going to happen, and he atoned for it."

"How?"

"He lived a life alone, and it was taken from him the moment he knew that he had paid the price. His atonement was you. Balinor had to give his life, for you. The same as the other half of the coin. Igraine gave her life for Arthur. Just because it happened differently doesn't mean that it is not significant."

"That is why Arthur and me are…."

"Two sides of the same coin, only to be brought together when the time was right."

"I want to know about my father. I want to know about Balinor. Who was my father? Did you know him?"

"Of course I knew him."

Kilgharrah blinked slowly and looked down at Merlin. He put his head closer to the only Dragon Lord that now existed.

"I was the first dragon he ever faced."

"When? How? Will you tell me?"

Again there was no command. Merlin didn't force him to say, he wanted to really know. Kilgharrah lowered his head and his eyes looked at benign as they would ever be.

"Yes, my young Dragon Lord, I will tell you."


	2. The First Meeting

**For those that have read this, I have changed this chapter in line with the canon storyline. **

Balinor shouted out, his voice low but it had broken as he called, drawing the dragon to him. He felt breathless, and his lungs seemed full of air that he couldn't breathe.

"It happens, child" Sh'lia said calmly, her hand running up her sixteen-year-old son's back. The heat was now radiating out of Balinor. "You feel the fire. The dragon is coming to you."

Balinor couldn't answer his mother to tell her that he knew. He could just feel it, the powerful draw that he had commanded. He could do it, the dragon was coming to him, and he had the responsibility, to talk to the dragons, to control them but never abuse it. You could not twist it, or the dragon's nature. They meant no harm, they lived in the world, and they could eat, live and breathe with people. People who had been given this gift could not take it lightly.

His eyes widened as he watched the huge beast fly to him, it passed overhead and circled. Balinor felt his mother's retreat and he backed up following her as his nerves rose. Yelling out Balinor ordered the beast to land. It did so and looked at him.

"You called me, young Lord."

"Yes, I did!" Balinor said, and then added, his voice rising up from the depths of his being. "Lower your head!"

The dragon's eyes flashed with outrage but he placed his chin on the ground, submitting himself to the Dragonlord. Who then surprised the dragon. Kilgharrah was angry at what had been done to him then he felt Balinor step forward and put his hand on his nose, rubbing the rough skin between his nostrils. Balinor crouched down and stared at him.

"I'm Balinor."

The dragon huffed at him. Balinor reared back confused and he looked to his mother, he only person now who could guide him.

"You ordered the dragon to submit, he cannot talk or move until you say otherwise."

"I didn't mean that!" Balinor said. "You can move and speak, I didn't mean to do that, I just want to stroke you."

"It is unusual, as requests go," the dragon said, speaking and lifting his head, but he didn't take it out of Balinor's reach. Balinor put his hand back and then looked at the dragon.

"May I?"

The dragon put his nose back in reach. "Yes, you may."

Balinor patted between the dragon's nose and then moved back and walked around the beast looking at him. The dragon lifted his head and followed the progress of the youth as he moved down his left side and over the tail. The dragon felt the boy's touch and flinched and he pulled back.

"Sorry, do you mind?" Balinor asked.

"No," the dragon said calmly, a little confused. "I do not."

Balinor carried on tracing over the dragon's tail. Sh'lia waited, she could not interfere with their son's first meeting, to see if he could control a dragon. He could, he had commanded it but then had behaved in such a strange fashion. If there had been another Dragonlord to advise Balinor it probably wouldn't have happened, but it was down to her, to give her son the knowledge that his father had not been able to pass on.

"Can I climb on you?" Balinor asked.

"You can do whatever you wish."

"Do you want me to? I know I can make you. I'd like to climb on you, if you don't mind."

The dragon huffed. "I've never been asked that before. You may take your leave to do as you wish."

Balinor smiled and latched on, and hauled himself up, walked from the dragon's haunches up to his shoulder blades. Balinor looked down regarding the wing that the dragon had flexed out to keep him from falling.

"Oh, I don't want to damage that. Am I doing anything to it?"

"No, you commanded me to submit," the dragon said. "I offer my wings out."

"Put them away! They look delicate. Are they that fragile?"

"I would not wish them to be damaged."

"Neither would I. I'll be careful," Balinor added as he slid off, clinging around the dragon's neck, hanging for a moment then let go so he dropped to the floor. Balinor sprawled back and met the dragon's gaze.

"I can call you."

"Yes, all dragons are at your call."

"And I climbed on you."

"Yes, you did."

Pulling himself up, Balinor dusted himself off.

"Do you have a name?" he asked the dragon, again he made no demand. The dragon put his head down to the ground.

"Kilgharrah."

"I'm Balinor."

Kilgharrah blinked, he looked at the young Dragonlord and then glanced, briefly, in Sh'lia's direction, before turning his attention back.

"I know," said Kilgharrah


	3. Interlude

"Wow, that was the first time my father met you," Merlin said.

"Yes it was."

"Did you like him?"

"Excuse me?"

"Did you like him, my father? Did you like him?" Merlin demanded.

"He commanded me, I had no choice."

"You made it sound like he just asked you things, he didn't make you do anything. Could he order you to like him?"

Kilgharrah gave a hint of a smile. "No, I suppose not. It was unusual, I have never been greeted quite like that by a Dragonlord, however young they are."

Merlin shifted on the rock he was perched on, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms round them. He rubbed his shins vigorously and Kilgharrah tilted his head.

"Are you cold?" Kilgharrah asked.

"A little, but there's no fire wood."

"Gather those stones," Kilgharrah ordered Merlin, nodding in the direction of the nearby scree where jumbles of loose rocks were scattered around. Merlin frowned but did as he was told, making a small cairn on the boulder where he had been sitting.

"Heat them," the dragon said to him. Merlin frowned and Kilgharrah chuckled. "You hardly need to be nervous of using your power in front of me."

Merlin pondered that and then shrugged. He stared at the rocks, holding his hand and he muttered under his breath. A moment later after a golden flash of his eyes the rocks started to glow, the heat that came from them warmed him a little, then the dragon put his head down and exhaled gently and the stones surged with a white hot light, there were two popping sounds as they cracked under the pressure, but the heat surged into the air, warming Merlin, and he shuffled a little closer.

"Thank you," Merlin said. Kilgharrah said nothing, regarding Merlin steadily for a moment.

"Why do you do that with your hand?"

Merlin blinked. "Sorry."

"You held your hand out to heat the stone. All you need to do is use your mind, why do you use such a gesture."

"Habit," Merlin said. "I have to be careful using magic, if I use the gesture, or have to think about it before I do something, then I don't make any mistakes at the wrong moment. I've never needed to do such a thing, I never used to."

Kilgharrah sat back and looked at him calmly.

"That is odd, living in Camelot, being with Arthur, it is holding your power back."

"No, it's not."

"Do you think not?"

"I'm learning. I've seen so many with magic, they come and try to hurt Arthur, and Uther. I don't like him but I know it's not the answer."

"You dislike the prince?"

"NO!" Merlin snapped, glaring up at Kilgharrah. "Uther, I don't like Uther. Arthur's fine, he's an idiot some of the time, most of the time, probably all of the time."

"That's a large amount of time."

"He's getting better, let's face it he was a complete ass before I met him, probably because nobody had dared tell him so."

Kilgharrah tilted his head and settled down, laying his belly on the floor and stretching his front legs out in front of him. He flexed his claws, watching with interest as they moved, then he looked up at Merlin.

"Do you think that made a difference?"

"I think I did, I hope so. He said I was an idiot but I was a brave one."

"That might be a good sign. Maybe he felt the same thing you did. You felt the connection, when you met."

"I'm sure I didn't," Merlin said stubbornly.

"Did you not?"

"We're not here to talk about me, or Arthur. I want to know about my father, you were his first dragon, what about his father?"

"Andoras, your grandfather, I never faced him. Your line was a great one, not just because of the Dragonlords, but of who they married, their women. Many Dragonlords lived good, long, lives. We met their sons before the power carried on, and they had a chance to understand the power. We protected our own, and it was the dragon's downfall. The Dragonlords called us, and then we were slaughtered."

Kilgharrah paused, lowering his head, so his nose almost touched the ground. His eyes looked so sad.

"I'm sorry," Merlin said.

The dragon's head rose, and he looked at Merlin with sympathy.

"It is only I that can tell you the story, of your legacy, and of my own. Yours is not so simple, even when Balinor was born I think magic knew it's fate, with his mother, your grandmother, Sh'lia."

"What about her?"

"They were alone, Andoras and Sh'lia, the Dragonlords were scattering. Wars between the kingdoms had begun; a dragon was a useful commodity in such a situation. I'll give Uther that, he stopped the abuse of our power. It wasn't safe for any Dragonlord, Andoras had no one to help him educate your father. There was only Sh'lia I think she knew what was coming, she went to look for Andoras, she found him, she married him."

"Who was she?" Merlin asked.

"Sh'lia?" Kilgharrah seemed to muse on the name. "She was a warrior, she tried to do what was right, and she was cast out from her people."

"Who were they?"

Kilgharrah looked at Merlin steadily.

"She was a Druid."


End file.
